Developing Father Inclusivity: Concerns and Practical Solutions

Claire Fraser and Abigail LockeConsult Research & University of Huddersfield

Workshop Outline

• Setting the context & literature review

• Group Exercise – assessment of father inclusivity in own organisation

• Reflections from research within antenatal provision

• Group Exercise – implementing father inclusivity

• Sharing views and evaluating success

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Fathers in the literature

• Part-time, bumbling assistant, baby entertainers (Sunderland, 2004, 2006)

• Father as provider discourse deeply entrenched (Dienhart, 1998)

• Craig (2006) childcare – mother main carer

• Doucet (2006): do men mother?

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Group Exercise

• Current level of father inclusivity in your organisation

• Experiences of trying to develop father inclusivity

• Barriers to achieving father inclusivity

• Problems encountered – within and across agencies

4

Fathers in antenatal classesLocke & Budds (forthcoming)

3 main themes arose:

• 1. Father as mother’s carer

• 2. Father as secondary parent

• 3. ‘Blokes’ will do it differently

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Father as mother’s carer

• Fathers role as carer to mother – spotting ‘baby blues’ - “depressed dear”

• Implies father needs to be instructed to seek assistance

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Fathers as secondary parent

• Fathers role constructed as fulfilling task that mother doesn’t want to fulfil:– ‘I definitely think that’s a dad’s job, dealing with the

nails’ (lines 16-17)

• Father’s role in parenting and role is the mother’s decision and is mostly assigned when it is convenient for her

• Father is constructed as a consolatory or ‘second-class’ parent

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‘Blokes will do it differently’

• Idea of shared parenting - ‘guys are just as good’

• Leaving baby with father deemed as problematic – Mother gets to decide when

• ‘right way’; ‘best way’; ‘blokes will do it differently’ (class leader constructions)

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Changing role of fathers

• ‘Fatherhood’ as an institution is changing• Lupton and Barclay (1997) mother’s role easier

to define (cf. Doucet (2006) Do men mother?)• Societal/cultural constraints on fatherhood• Wall & Arnold (2007): the contemporary culture

of fatherhood is not one of shared parenting and it can not be so until social expectations regarding parenting roles change…

• Much talk of the ‘new father’, but we still have a long way to go

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Group Exercise

• Implementing father inclusivity

• Overcoming the barriers

• Developing practical solutions

• Measuring success in achieving father inclusivity

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Discussion topics

• Single father

• Stay-at-home-father

• Teenage father

• Professional father

Summing Up

• Group experiences – sharing ideas

• How are we doing? Ideas for evaluating success in achieving father inclusivity

• Any questions…

Claire Fraser, Consult Research

claire@consultresearch.co.uk www.consultresearch.co.uk

Abigail Locke, University of Huddersfield

a.locke@hud.ac.uk http://www2.hud.ac.uk/hhs/staff/shumal2.php

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